Of Lost Memories and Eternal Love
by Sabrina-nee
Summary: He loved her. She loved him. To protect her though he has to let her go. Zeref-Lucy with hint of Natsu-Lucy pairing! Rated T for safety.


**Of Lost Memories and Eternal Love**

**Summary:** He loved her. She loved him. To protect her though he has to let her go.

**Ratings:** Rated T

**Disclaimer:** Fairy Tail® by Mashima Hiro

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_"You better not make her cry." Natsu said while he was drilling his sharp eyes on Zeref._

_Zeref stared back at Natsu with his face bare with any emotions. "I won't."_

_Natsu clicked his tongue in annoyance the Fire Dragon Slayer was looking at the infamous Dark Mage Zeref with his eyes screaming the 'you-better-make-sure-or-else-I'll-kill-you' message._

_"So this is where the two of you are!" A bubbly tone interrupted both male Mage._

_They turned their faces at the door and saw a beautiful blonde Mage wearing a red halter dress that ended on her pinkish knees._

_"What are my best friend and fiancé doing outside here while I and the others were having fun in the party inside?" Lucy planted her hands on her hips while she playfully pouted at Natsu and Zeref._

_Zeref immediately approached his soon-to-be-bride and landed his lips on hers. It barely lasted a second but Natsu felt as if it lasted for years so he quickly averted his eyes even before Zeref's lips touched Lucy's._

_A red color dusted Lucy cheeks; she bashfully smiled at Zeref and patted his arm. "What are you doing, Zeref. Natsu's watching us."_

_"I can't help it; your lips were inviting me to kiss them." Zeref said and Natsu made a gagging sound as if he wanted to throw up._

_But Lucy ignored her pink headed best friend because she was busy swooning over Zeref._

_"I love you, Lucy." Zeref whispered and in return Lucy giggles as she blushed._

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_"I love you too Zeref."_

_"Zeref... I love you. I'm sorry."_

Zeref or most commonly known as Black Wizard Zeref slowly opened his eyelids and stared at his beige colored ceiling.

"Lucy..." He murmured melancholic.

He felt this stinging sensation on his heart. As if some invisible hand was squeezing his heart.

His beloved Lucy.

The only person who believed in him. Who did not condemned him despite his sins from his dreaded past. Who did not resent him for who he was. Who loved him unconditionally when he himself hated his whole being and existence.

His beloved Lucy.

The first time he laid his red bloodshot eyes— orbs that he thought were tainted by the malice of his dark past— on the beautiful blonde Mage Lucy were when Grimiore Guild entered the Tenrou Island. The island he used as his temporary refuge and he hoped that the island itself concealed his existence from the world the same island where the Fairy Tail's annual S-Class Wizard Promotion Trial was taking place.

The illegal guild was trying to get a hold of him and his dark magical abilities, wanting to erase all non-magical people in Earthland. To his surprised Lucy Heartfillia was partnered with Natsu Dragoneel whom he was seeking for the past years. Zeref wanted the Fire Dragon Slayer to fulfill what he was destined to do.

And that was his impending death.

Ironically speaking, Zeref was delighted when he met Natsu in Tenrou Island. At least his sufferings will put to an end once and for all. But the Dark Mage was utterly disappointed when he discovered Natsu is still not ready to end his cursed life. He was still weak in comparison to his overwhelming magical power. Natsu can't even land a decent punch on him.

Zeref was left weeping in disappointment and in sorrow, he doesn't want to exist anymore because the world continued to reject him as he live and that is the worst punishment for him. That was when his damped eyes collided with round brown orbs.

It was his first time someone eyed him not with anger, not with pity either, but with empathy as if she was trying her best to understood his pain. Those chocolate colored eyes expressing awareness of his troubles in life was a foreign emotion for him but inwardly he felt happy. At least someone, even though she maybe the only one, was nice enough to try and understand his sufferings.

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_"Zeref..." A kind and sweet voice called his name._

_It was very invigorating to his ears, as if an angel was whispering his name right through his ears._

_Sweet. Kind. Alluring._

_And he liked it when she called him by his name. Before, he hated his name as much as he hated his whole being because to others just mere uttering his name would cause a disaster. But the first time she called him by his name he felt as if he was in cloud nine._

_His heart was fluttering in happiness._

_"Hey I'm talking to you." She whined as of a child and pout._

_"I'm sorry." Zeref apologized._

_They were in Fairy Tail's guild, which was under renovation. Their guild had won the Grand Magic Games; they have restored their reputation as strongest and number one guild in Fiore Kingdom._

_"Ne, can I really control this... power?" She asked, her chocolate eyes displaying the apprehension after discovering her hidden Magical power that could destroy everything around her, may it the large stadium or even the large palace._

_"It depends on you, if you really desire to control and used that power to protect your nakama, then you could."_

_"But what if I couldn't?" She insisted, hanging her head in depression, it was a pity that she doesn't have any confidence in her Magical capabilities._

_Zeref planted his palm on her hand. "You have to believe in yourself." He said encouragingly._

_Lucy stared at him at first before stretching her lips to form a smile and nodded. "Arigatou." She said._

_"I could help you control it." He offered._

_Her eyes glimmered the moment those words escaped from his lips. He wasn't expecting her to be so happy when he offered his help._

_"Really?" she asked, looking hopeful and at the same time happy._

_He couldn't betray those brown eyes full of hope so Zeref found himself inclining his head downward. Lucy cooed and suddenly pulled him in a hug that caught the Dark Mage off guard but his heart fluttered in happiness when he felt the warmth emitting from the Celestial Mage's petite body._

_Zeref closed his eyes and savored the warmth from Lucy before he pulled his lips upward. For the first time ever, he was glad to be alive._

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Zeref walked through the busy street of Magnolia City. He was wearing a dirty cloak with the hood covering his head and hiding his face. He ignored the odd look he was receiving from the townspeople or the tourists; he just continued to walk down the pavement quietly.

Zeref took a turn in one corner when he felt something small and petite colliding against his lower body. He heard a childish yelp and a faint thud, sounds of something small hitting the ground.

He lowered his red eyes and was literally startled when his orbs met a little girl no older than ten years old wearing a frilly pink dress. The child had her pink hair tied in high pigtail.

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_"I know I should, at least, be happy for Natsu and Lisanna." Lucy said, her one hand playing over the can of cola Zeref handed to her one evening._

_They were casually sitting on the hallway of Lucy's apartment. Zeref's back pressed up against the cold wall; his legs were cross together, while Lucy had her back against the opposite wall. Her legs were pressed up against her chest._

_"I mean, even before coming here, Lisanna was Natsu's first best friend and his first love so it's only natural for them to start dating right?"_

_Zeref heard Lucy letting out a sad sigh; her brown and slightly watery eyes were glued on the wooden floor. The Dark Mage eyes though were focused on Lucy's sad face._

_"I wanted to congratulate him but—" Lucy sniffed before burying her face on her knees. Seconds later Zeref heard a soft sobbing sound from Lucy. "But I couldn't because I wanted to go out with him. I wanted to be his girl friend not Lisanna." another sob was heard._

_Zeref, or probably the whole members of Fairy Tail, knew that Lucy has one sided feelings for Natsu but the latter never offered himself more than friendship to Lucy or more like henever had the courage to asked her out. The blonde Celestial Mage was caught off guard when Natsu announced that he finally asked Lisanna out instead._

_While everyone was celebrating, Lucy quietly slipped out of the guild with her golden fringes veiling over her brown eyes. Zeref worried about her, followed Lucy back to her apartment._

_"I don't deserve to be called Natsu's friend when I feel jealous over Lisanna." Lucy sobbed. "I'm the worst."_

_The dark haired Mage creased his handsome face when he felt a stinging sensation in his heart. There was a foreign aching feeling in his heart that made Zeref furrowed his eyebrows. What is it?_

'Why am I not good enough?' _Zeref blinked his eyes, startled at the small voice inside his head. Good enough for what? The dark haired mage focused his gaze on Lucy and then he pushed aside the pain over his heart when the blonde's sob turned into soft weeping sound._

_She must have been really hurt._

_Zeref's red eyes softened. "Lucy..." he called out for the first time._

_Lucy resurfaced half of her face from her knees and was surprised when she saw Zeref had his arms wide open._

_"Come here." he softly offered._

_Another buckets of tears welled out Lucy's brown eyes before she slowly crawled up into Zeref's arms. The Dark Mage cradled Lucy while the latter howled out against his chest. His hands were slowly patting the Celestial Mage's head while the other free hand locked itself around the quivering body of Lucy._

_The whole night, Zeref comforted the grieving Lucy inside his arms._

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"My ice cream..."

Zeref brought back his mind to the present when he heard the sobbing sound from the little girl. The girl had her watery eyes on the strawberry ice cream splattered on the floor. She must've dropped it when she bumped into him.

Zeref bent his knees to the girl and fished out couple of jewels, enough to buy four ice creams, and handed it to the little girl.

"I'm sorry, Ojou-chan." he said softly not wanting to startle the little girl. "Here, why don't you buy ice cream again?"

Zeref dropped the money on the small palms of the little girl but she had her brown eyes staring deeply against his crimson eyes. Zeref wanted to pull away his eyes from the girl but the latter let out a soft giggle.

"Onii-chan's eyes are red! Pretty! Same color of granny's favorite flowers." she cooed happily.

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_Zeref was feeling a little self conscious while he let Lucy stared at his red bloodshot eyes and she laughed against her palm._

_"Red roses." she said. "Your eyes are like my favorite flowers, the red roses. They're pretty." she quickly explained when he furrowed his eyebrows._

_Never in his whole life will he experience his cheeks burning in embarrassment when Lucy complimented the color of his eyes. Zeref thought his red eyes were ugly because it has the same color of blood._

_"Y-your eyes were much more beautiful than mine." Zeref offered as he averted his eyes, feeling a love struck teen age boy._

_Lucy blinked her brown eyes before beaming at Zeref. "Thank you." she said with a big smile crossing her lips and soft red tinge coloring her cheeks._

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Zeref softly smiled at the little girl and patted her by her head. "Thank you." he said.

The little girl giggled.

"But your eyes are much more beautiful than mine."

The little girl's smile widened and eagerly nodded. "Right? I got my eyes from my granny." she said before letting out childish giggles.

Zeref offered the little girl a small smile.

The little girl then gasped and widened her brown eyes in shock. "Oh yeah, we're visiting granny today. Onii-chan, I gotta go!" she said and hurriedly run towards the east.

Zeref watched her run but she suddenly halted before she turned around at him and waved her hand above her head and shouted, "See you again and thank you!" before running towards her destination once again.

Zeref was left staring at the direction where the little girl with pink hair and brown eyes disappeared. He felt his lips forming a melancholic sad before he twisted his ankle to his own direction.

The lone Dark Mage was slowly walking down Magnolia Park and caught up the glimpsed of the huge Sakura tree in the middle of the park.

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_It was the night of Valentines and he asked Lucy to meet him up under the Sakura tree. Lucy was waiting while humming a song, her eyes were twinkling whilst watching the petals of Sakura falling down the ground. She lifted her hand trying to catch one petal with her palm. She giggled when she caught one and admiringly stared at the single petal on her palm._

_"Lucy…" Zeref appeared beside Lucy._

_Lucy turned her head to her side and gave the dark haired Mage a soft pout. "You're late." She whined and harrumphed._

_Zeref smiled before stepping closer to the blonde Mage. "I'm sorry; I can't really decide what to give you this Valentines." He sincerely apologized, a soft blush decorating his cheeks._

_Lucy blinked her eyes at him before she giggled, her cheeks were burning as well. "You didn't have to, Zeref."_

_"I know." He said. "But I wanted to."_

_The blush across Lucy's cheeks intensified when for the very first time, the man they called Dark Mage, smiled widely and sincerely making him more handsome than ever. To hide her blushing face, Lucy beamed tilting her head to her side in the process._

_Zeref took out a velvet small box from his pants and opened it. The box revealed a silver ring with red stone flower. Lucy gasped at the ring and admiringly stared at it._

_"Happy Valentine's day, Lucy," he greeted softly._

_Something about the way Lucy stared at him, watery eyes filled with happiness, which made his cheeks felt a lot warmer or was it the way she smiled at him, a smile filled with love and admiration. Either way, this made Zeref heart thumped faster than before._

_"Thank you." She said and beamed._

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Zeref found himself standing in front of Lucy's apartment in Strawberry Street. The whole two-story building did not change from the past years other than the apartment was painted in different color for maintenance reason probably. It still has the red wall, two chimneys and instead of a dark-brown roof it is now changed into red tile roof.

The Mage's eyes landed on the right window where Lucy's room was located. The curtain draping over the window was different; of course, the tenant was probably different as well. Zeref can't help but to imagine a beautiful blonde young lady peering on the window, waving happily at him and the Dark Mage's throat constricted when he felt the stinging sensation of tears forming on his red eyes.

He quickly averted his eyes from the window the moment the image disappeared.

How he missed her.

Countless times he dreamed of spending his life with Lucy, Zeref was sure every day will be full of laughter, happiness and love, there might be times that they would probably argue but that's because he's too stubborn but he knew they will make up in an instant.

But everything changed in an instant. Those people who wanted his powers came and to lure him out they kidnapped Lucy instead.

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_The moment he realized that Lucy was taken away by some dark guild, in a blink of an eye Zeref was on the way to rescue his beloved. It was three days after Mira Jane and Fried's son's birthday and the same day he finally asked Lucy to marry him._

_She said yes and that made him the happiest man on earth and yet someone will always do something to spoil that moment._

_He found her in an abandoned building, both hands and feet were tied up and she was lying unconscious on the floor. She was hurt, bruises and cuts all over her petite body. The sight set off the raging Dark Mage and one by one he mercilessly killed the perpetrators._

_How dare them laid their filthy hands against the delicate Lucy, the first and probably the only girl he swear to protect and love? A dark and very dangerous aura seeping off from his body before he unleashed his powers killing the members of the guild in an instant._

_Zeref collected Lucy body inside his arms, carefully releasing her wrist and ankles from the tight bind. His red eyes wondered painfully over the wounds on Lucy's body, her left cheek was swelling; probably one of these bastards slapped her across her cheeks. At that thought, his chest constricted in anger wanting to hurt those bastards once again._

_Zeref graced his finger tips against the swollen cheek and in the process Lucy groaned in pain. The Dark Mage tsk-ed before pulling Lucy into a gently hug, whispering the words 'sorry' over and over again. If it wasn't for him, Lucy would probably not be hurt like this, she's probably safe._

_Tears started to cascade down his cheeks._

_Lucy groaned once again before consciousness slowing taking over her. She groggily blinked her brown eyes at the red eyes hovering above her, concern emitting from the crimson orbs. She forcefully formed a soft smile and tried to caressed Zeref's damped cheeks._

_"I—knew that y-you're coming… to save m-m-me." She tried to say despite the pain shooting her body from the torture she got from her kidnappers. "T-thank you, Zeref—I-I'm so happy…" she added. "Thank you." She croaked the last two words because Lucy started crying and buried her bruised face against Zeref's chest. "I…I was so s-scared…"_

_Zeref let Lucy cried out the trauma she got from her kidnappers, he held the trembling body of Lucy inside his arms. He clenched his jaw tightly and cursed everyone and everything that tried to hurt her. He cursed himself from causing pain to her. He doesn't deserve to be beside this fragile girl. He might lose his sanity if ever Lucy got hurt again because of him._

_He has to let go._

_"Lucy…" he softly murmured as he pushed Lucy away from him and helped her sit up on the cold floor. Lucy inclined her head to her side, her eyes blinking in confusion._

_"It's time to let go." He whispered._

_Those words made Lucy freeze up; her face was bare in emotions at first before the words finally sunk in inside her brain. She furrowed her eyebrows at him._

_"What?" she asked in disbelief. "L-let go of what? What do you mean by that?"_

_"I could never bare it if something bad happened to you again." He said he titled his head downward so his dark fringes would hide his red eyes._

_"You don't have to feel guilty, Zeref. You saved me right? You came and I'm very thankful for that." She tried to console him by grabbing his hands by Zeref harshly whisked away Lucy's hands, startling the blonde girl. Lucy gasped before she slowly withdrew her hands, hurt was evident on her eyes._

_"Am I a burden to you now, Zeref?"_

_Zeref twitched a little before silence perched between them. Lucy's brown eyes watered once again when Zeref nod his head as his silent response._

_Lucy swallowed at first before she grumbled, "I-I see…" silence took over again. "What are you going to do now?"_

_"I need to erase your memory," was Zeref's quick response._

_"My… memory… it's more like_ OUR _memories…" she sobbed, planting a hand over her lips. Zeref remained quiet and stayed his head crooked down all the time. "How can you say that so casually, as if those memories meant nothing?"_

_When Lucy received nothing but silence from Zeref, she softly glared at him. "Fine." She said; Zeref twitched for the second time but say nothing. "Have it your way then." She hissed._

_Zeref slowly lifted his one hand and planted it against Lucy's eyes. When the blonde Mage felt the cold and quivering hand of Zeref over her face realization finally dawned over her. Her stiff body relaxed in an instant, she could hear him whispering incantations. Lucy suddenly planted her hand over Zeref's hand, the whispering stopped, she could pictured a startled Zeref before her._

_"Zeref." She called out softly, the voice she usually used to call him. Sweet. Soft. And full of gentle. "Will you… stay awhile after this?"_

_Silence fell again before Lucy heard him grunted. She took that as a 'yes' before Zeref started whispering the spell once again. Her grip over his hand tightened._

_"Zeref…"_

_Zeref continued his verbal charms though the trembling of his hand slightly escalated and his whispering voice started to sound hoarse as if he was trying his best to keep the sob from taking over his entire body. Tears fall down from Lucy's brown eyes hidden before the palm of the Dark Mage._

_"Zeref... I love you. I'm sorry."_

_Zeref paused for a second— his words, his trembling and even his breathing stopped for a moment— before he slowly utter, almost hesitant, the last word of the spell._

_A blinding light engulfed Lucy before her unconscious body slowly fell down backward. Zeref was quick to cup the back of Lucy's head before it collided the stone floor._

_The dark haired Mage stared at Lucy's sleeping face with his handsome face bare with any emotions. Then he bent his back and planted his forehead against Lucy's; twin tears dropped onto Lucy's cheeks before Zeref occupied her lips with his._

'Zeref... I love you. I'm sorry.'

_"I love you too, Lucy." He whispered and tried to form a soft smile on his lips but instead a painful sob escaped his lips. "So much that it starting to hurts."_

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_"What the fuck do you mean you erased her memories?" an enraged Natsu harshly grabbed Zeref by his collar. Gray and Elfman were quick to stopped Natsu from jabbing Zeref a punch._

_"Stop it Natsu!" Erza warned, her eyes were throwing sharp glares at Natsu and Zeref but for the first time ever, their Fire Dragon Slayer turned deaf in Erza's order._

_"The fuck I will stop!" Natsu retorted. "This man 'erased' Lucy's memory! How could I just accept it like that?"_

_"Use your brain idiot!" This time it was Gray who shouted. "He did that to protect Lucy! He explained it himself!"_

_Natsu tried to launch a punch once again despite Gray and Elfman trying to resist him. "The hell with—,"_

_"Natsu." their elderly guild Master called out with soft and slightly pleading tone that made Natsu and everyone inside the guild halted. "Be reasonable. Out of all the people inside this room, Zeref-kun is the one hurting the most."_

_Natsu's fury faltered and when his dark eyes landed on the indifferent red orbs of Zeref all of his rage collapsed. Natsu loudly cursed, something he rarely does, and released Zeref in harsh manner, Zeref stumbled a little._

_That was when the door of their infirmary opened, revealing the relief expression of Levy._

_"She woke up." She announced with tears of joy over-looking her brown eyes. "Lucy gained consciousness."_

_Relief washed over the guild members' faces before they happily skipped towards the room despite the warnings from the angry Porlyursica. The Medicinal Advisor of Fairy Tail could only sigh the irritation as the members of the guild gathered around the blonde Mage._

_They were all asking about her wounds and Lucy reassured everyone that she's feeling fine and it all thanks to Wendy and Porlyursica who treated her wounds and injuries._

_"Lucy…" Natsu took the stool next to the bed and grabbed his blonde best friend's hand._

_Lucy blushed and gave Natsu a reassuring smile. "I'm fine Natsu. Sorry for making you worry about me."_

_Natsu's handsome face contorted as if he was struggling his best to keep the words inside himself but after awhile of resisting he finally said, "Zeref is here."_

_With that, everyone was suddenly in awkward silence. Lucy merely lifted her eyebrows._

_"He's here. He just outside the—,"_

_"He's gone." Lily said as he floated outside the infirmary room. The black cat with half-moon scar on his left eye was alone outside. The Dark Mage disappeared without uttering his good bye._

_Natsu clenched his teeth. "That bastard—,"_

_Lucy tagged Natsu by his white scarf. "I don't know why you are so angry but can I ask you something, Natsu?"_

_Natsu nodded but deeply he knew what will Lucy's next words. Everyone feel the same way but they stayed quiet as Lucy inclined her head to her side and blinked her eyes._

_"Who is this Zeref you're talking about?"_

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_Zeref disappeared and years before he returned Magnolia again. He stood in front of Lucy's apartment and was looking up to her window. He was about to turn around when a blonde lady, probably around thirty five or less, stood next to window and not that Zeref was surprise when he saw Lucy cradling a bundle; she was obviously cooing over her baby._

_Lucy giggled at the baby and at the three Exceed cats hovering above Lucy, the cats (one in colored blue and the other two were in colored white) were probably the offspring of Natsu's cat Happy and Wendy's Exceed Carla._

_His heart clenched painfully when he thought that Lucy is now married and that she finally had a family of her own. A family he wished he also belonged to._

_"So it was you." A familiar angry voice cut Zeref off from staring at Lucy._

_Zeref dragged his bored red eyes off Lucy and landed on the mature-looking Natsu before him. The Fire Dragon Slayer had his bag strapped on his shoulders—Natsu probably got back from his mission— whilst a worried Happy landed on Natsu's shoulder._

_"What are you doing here?" Natsu spat._

_Zeref shook his head as his answer. News travelled that Natsu broke up with Lisanna so he could be on Lucy's side. The youngest Strauss was hurt of course but still held no grudge over Natsu or to Lucy. When Zeref heard that Lucy and Natsu were now married he felt his world shattered into million pieces._

_"I hate you, did you know that?" Natsu angrily said, ignoring the worried look he's receiving from his cat partner._

_Zeref's face remained expressionless that only fused the anger of Natsu._

_Natsu clenched his jaw, his handsome face making a mixture of pain, confuse and anger expression. "But despite all this hate I have for you I can't help but also feel sorry for you."_

_That startled the Dark Mage. Never in his entire life would he imagine Natsu Dragoneel feeling sorry for him. Natsu hated him for stealing Lucy when he decided to propose to her and the hate only redoubled when he erased all of the memories he shared with Lucy._

_"To hell with that." Natsu started once again. "Maybe in another universe, if you didn't decide to delete Lucy's memories of you, you'll be her husband and the father of her child. But on this time, Lucy is MINE and mine alone."_

_"Stay away from her." He hissed before entering the said apartment._

_Zeref remained gazing at the closed wooden door with indifferent expression before stealing one more glance at the window. Lucy was no longer standing in front of the window, probably to greet Natsu by the entrance, so the dark haired Mage decided to turn his heels and walked away from the apartment._

'Natsu, you truly are kind-hearted. You deserved to be with Lucy.'

_Inside the hallway of the apartment, after slamming the door closed, Natsu weakly pressed his back against the surface of the door. Happy jumped on the wooden floor and stared at his human partner with worried face._

_"Natsu…" Happy begin as the pink haired Mage slide his body and slumped himself on the floor. "I know you didn't mean those words." The cat said. "Yes, you hate Zeref and yes you loved Lucy but I know inwardly despite everything you're still wishing for Zeref to appear and take Lucy right?"_

_Natsu humorlessly laughed but replied nothing to his blue furred cat; the salmon head Mage slammed his one hand over his face. "He still loved Lucy. Sometimes I want him to take Lucy but at the same time I don't want that to happen because I also love her. Damn it!"_

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_Twice a year, Zeref will come and visit Magnolia, leaving a single red rose by the window sill of the Dragoneel couple's window, one on Lucy's birthday and another one on Lucy and Natsu's daughter's birthday._

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_One of his curse was to have an eternal life and so Zeref decided to use his immortality by watching Lucy over the years. Keeping track in things that has connection to her; to her child or the guild she treasured and called her family._

_He was always there, hiding in shadows, when they celebrated Lucy's daughter's first birthday, the day the Celestial Mage passed her keys to her only child, the day Lucy and Natsu watched their child going out to do her first mission, the day they all weep when their Master slash surrogate father finally fall into his eternal slumber._

_Zeref was always there throughout the years. He was there when Lucy laughed, cried or even just stood next to the window merely savoring the peaceful moment. He watched as Lucy and the others changed and turned into their old and wrinkly self._

_He was also there when Lucy finally heaved her last breathing._

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When he erased Lucy's memories half of his soul died along with the memories he snatched from her. And when Lucy finally rested in peace the other half of his soul died along with his beloved Celestial Mage as well. His routines, when Lucy was still alive, were to keep track on her activities and secretly protected her in any harms. But now Lucy is in the afterlife he lost all of his will to live.

He had nothing inside of him, after all.

His feet have taken him in the graveyard especially meant for the Mages of the number guild in Fiore Kingdom, the Fairy Tail. He wanted to give this single rose to Lucy for the very last time. He was few feet away from the gravestone when he heard the sound of childish giggles.

Zeref quickly hide behind the nearest stone and quietly peeked from it. It was the little girl he bumped into awhile ago. The girl was with her family, her father with blonde hair and her dark haired mother. The child's mother was holding the little girl's, presumably, younger brother who had their mother's jet black hair.

"Hey grandma, grandpa." The father said into Lucy and Natsu's gravestones. "I'm with my family. Wish you could see them though." The father patted the little girl's head. "Lucia, your great granddaughter inherited grandpa's exuberant personality and wanted to be just like grandpa." He said and then he laughed. "Grandma, I'm passing down the keys I got from Mom to my youngest son, Lucio, seemed that he's taken a liking to Aquarius." He added and chuckled at his son who was chewing one of the Celestial Keys.

"Granny! Happy birthday!" Lucia brightly greeted at the stone and placed the bouquet of red roses at the base of Lucy's grave stone. "Grandpa, I'll try my best to be the Mage just like you and granny! Lucio will do his best too right, Lucio?"

Her parents laughed. "We'll be going now. I missed you both and Mom and Dad as well." The father said. "We'll come back."

Natsu and Lucy's grandson from their daughter's side left the place along with his wife and two kids. Zeref finally stepped out of his hiding place and decided to approach Lucy's gravestone.

Zeref stood in front of the stone and he felt really weird. He was supposed to cry, like he usually does whenever he visited Lucy's gravestone, but today no tears fell down from his eyes. Despite the blank space Lucy left inside him and despite the sadness lingered inside his chest, Zeref couldn't help but to finally smiled warmly. How odd.

And then his crimson eyes tilted to the direction where Lucy's grandson and his family went to. Maybe because he finally found another reason to live for; he imagined the older version of Lucia and Lucio and decided that he will going to protect Lucy's legacy; her great grandkids.

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**Sabrina's Musing Corner:** Homigash! Sabrina finally finished it :D this fiction has been in Sabrina's portable hard drive for months but she doesn't have the motivation or idea to finish it but thank goodness she finally did! Whee~~ Sabrina's first attempt of making Zeref-Lucy fiction. Sabrina loves Zeref! Oh yeah, the scene between Lucy and Zeref was inspired by Hatori (?) and Kana's scene from FB :)) Sabrina out...!

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Did Sabrina cover everything…? Feel free to leave a question if you guys still have question.

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